I thank the blogger who responded with a discourse that has substance and merit, even though his cherry-picking of facts leaves me nonplussed. Conversely, the first blogger should seek an appointment with a book of any kind and maybe, just maybe, he will learn how to express himself , an art that has so far eclipsed his addled faculties.

Democrats have plans for every area of domestic and international concern but they tend to fight fair- not nefariously as is the Republican wont.

The Democrats have a health plan for the 43 million without medical insurance, which is equal parts private and single- payer.

The Democrats have a respect for the Constitution that does not preclude international covenants that have long been in place(i.e. The Geneva Conventions). This does not mean, as repeated ad nausem by the Republican Greek Chorus that " democrats are traitors, undermining the troops in the field and disloyal Americans. It means that Democrats believe in the rule of law and not a rule of law by presidential fiat.

The Democrats have economic policies that provide tutelage and unemployment insurance for those who have been jettisoned by corporate greed and tax evasion.

In fact, their has NEVER been a program in American history that has benefitted the middle and lower middle classes that was not left-wing agitated for or democratically legislated into effect.

In defending democracy during the 20 th century, Democratic presidents have taken on the burden of leadership and made the excruciatingly tough decisions while Republican congresses have opted for isolation.

The list is so long, that I could type till the cows come home( and then some), but I believe that a number of cogent points have been made.

The corpus of lies from the Bush and Republican "circle-the wagon" mentality has infused, suffused and undermined the body politic to such a degree that even Cheney was demure at the latest revelation: that the NIE found that the "Lawrence of Arabia" debacle in Iraq has not only not kept America and the world safer, it has actually GENERATED more terrorists and provided them with a toll-free (1-800-Dial- Iraq ) phone number.

From the absence of WMD, to the mushroom cloud and Niger disaster; from the bringing of democracy to the Middle East to war profiteering; from Mission Accomplished to Greeting Us with Flowers( rose petals denuded of thorns); from Al Queda connections to Shite death squads; from "bring them on" to " you are either with us or against us" ( John Wayne, where are you when we need you? Oh, I forget,you, like Bush, never saw combat- unless it involved abusing tobacco, alcohol or cocaine); from , well, you get the idea- this list rivals the Himalayas in elevation and its anoxic correlation to the facts and the truth.

On the domestic front, there are so many contenders for the "Lie-of-the-Year," and so much time left in the Bush monarchical version of a democracy, that it seems a necessity to restrict this dyspeptic list to only the more egregious mendacities: from compassionate conservatism to faith-based initiatives( with the faith based solely on Bush's favorite philosopher, Jesus); from tax cuts for the plutocracy to "let- them- eat- cake" for the working class: from FEMA Brown to DOD Rumsfeld: from Katrina to Homeland Security( that is, security for those lobbyists who bottomfeed from the public troughs); from voting irregularities to a purloined Supreme Court ( not- to- be-used-as- a- precedent )decision; to, well my fingers are getting tired from typing this rap sheet of crimes and their miscreant forebears.

And yet, incredulous as it seems, people still believe the bloviations that emanate from the chimerical machine known as the White House( and the color white, indicative of a blending of all colors, is the perfect hue to mask the quotidian dissemblings that Tony Snow loves to disperse at his carefully orchestrated "exchanges" with selected journalists).

Democracy is the best form of government but democracy without education, and an informed and quering public, to paraphrase Jefferson, is no democracy at all. Even theistic and conservative Republicans cannot stop or reverse the tides-but you got to give them credit( although they seem much more at ease with the debit and debt sides of all economic ledgers) for promulgating the same lies over and over again in hopes that they will stick and produce different results ( which by the way,was Einstein's exact definition of insanity).

So would it be fair to say that those who cast their ballots for Republicans are relegating and mortgaging our country's future to the apocalyptic visions of Christian fundamentalists, trickle- down and voodoo economic fiscal policies and " the whole world is wrong and only we, Republicans,are right, true and moral?"

Pinocchio , it appears, alas,has also taken up residency in the Red states and in huge tracts of Ventura County.

The leviathan divide between ( as well as within) red and blue states has not only produced a political paralysis that affects everyone, everywhere, but it is also generating a moral rigor mortis that precedes the descent and fall from the communal "we" to the singular"I." Thus while a black-and-blue bruise can cause discomfiture and pain, a wound to the body politic can cause irreparable bleeding that drowns the country in an economic ocean of red ink, a bogged-down- military- through- no- fault- of- its -own in need of thousands of transfusions of red blood and communities, cities and states riven red by self -aggrandizing legislation that elevates the few and eviscerates the many.

The politics, policies and morals preached vs. morals observed of the Red states and those who vote red are the prime reasons why a veritable series of plagues have infested our national corpus and outsourced a tsunami of disorganized chaos to foreign shores. From compassionate conservatism( which is not compassionate but in its deleterious effects is definitely conservative) to faith- based initiatives( whose initiatives are almost solely limited to, and accompanied by a litmus test of, one's allegiance to Jesus); from Homeland Security( which only provides security to the most strident,stentorian and plutocratic Rangers and Pioneers contributors whose secular tithes are stamped with a bright and red Republican R) to FEMA( which only manages to make natural disasters into cataclysmic calamities); and from flipflopping ( we went to war in Iraq because of WMD, the possibility of enveloping mushroom clouds, to bring the leavening banner of democracy, to the terrorists are coming, the terrorists are coming and they are walking hand- in- hand with Saddam Hussein) to ossified intransigence( Bush and Cheney's stated-with- emphasis reiterations that if they had to do it all ovedone again in Iraq, they would unhesitantingly do so), Red states and Red votes have managed to accomplish what Saddam could never have done in a thousand lifetimes- make the United States a pariah in the world community and distort, disorient and even disassemble a working constituency at home.

So yes, blue policies and morals may be contentiously debated and rehashed, and some egos may be discolored or deflated, but red policies and morals are, due to their absence of reflection and their slavish adherence to a Christian theological certitude, are perniciously deadly, for now and for all time.

When I was entering the hierarchical system known as public education, I had already learned a few truths that I knew, viscerally, would remain true no matter how old I got. I knew that if one changed one's story over and over again to explain the same phenomenon, than I was pretty sure that the raconteurs were lying( i.e. Bush's multivariate explanations for the Iraqi war).

I knew that those kids that ran around in groups were bullies and that once they were exposed and left to their own devices, were cowards( i.e. Dick Cheney and his cadre of neoconservatives).

I knew that any kid who behaved and acted in one and only one way, was unreasonable, uncompromising and had to be confronted and subdued if the cohension and viability of the neighborhood was to survive( i.e.Conservative Christian evangelicals and their embrace of an apocalyptic eschatology that bodes no compromise and punishes apostates with a fire-and- brimstone demise).

I knew that making a mistake and apologizing was not enough, and that my recondite words had to be accompanied by actions that were corrective and concrete( i.e. The conservative explanations for the failure of voodoo and trickle- down economics).

I knew that you won or lost with your friends and went up and down with your family- no ifs or buts( Bush's vacillating between his religiously radical born again foreign policy and his populist canard of compassionate conservatism).

I knew, finally, that everyone in the neighborhood and school were not fools and bloviators eventually had to pay for the manure that they had been slinging and sliding in ( i.e. the midterm elections will inculcate a Democratic congress).

I observed that when people are deeply steeped ( and vested) in the theology, practice and proselytization of their religious faith, they rail at the rest of the (presumely secular) world by substituting the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state (i.e. freedom of religion) with the "mantra du jour": freedom from religion. So how come almost all of these religious devotees mention only Jesus? Perhaps they are really concerned that in the religious marketplace, there will be numerous consumers who prefer to make their purchases from other pious vendors. As such, their jeremiad about freedom from religion is really a brilliant front for the inculcation of Jesus over all other religious and secular entities, revealing that their REAL aim is a Christian theocracy- not a pluralistic American democracy.

I observed that the proponderance of Republicans who are examining and disinterring the shealth of dissembling, prevarications and outright fabrications that are the faulty ( and pernicious) infrastructure of our Iraqi debacle, are religious moderates and have served in our nation's armed services. I have also observed that the most strident and vocal advocates of the Iraqi debacle are Republicans who have never worn a military uniform( Dick Cheney's " I had more important things to do" comes most readily to mind) and whose religious affiliations are bone- strong and cell- deep Christian evangelical fundamentalists. So how come " all these onward Christian soldiers" lay down with the sheep but yell like a lion?

I observed that if Intelligent Design is the path that all sentient and living beings are destined to follow, then how does one account for the desultory, borderline delusional and separated- from - reality rantings that suffuse and dominate the homilies delivered from the pulpits of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Ralph Reed et.al.?

Just some observations. And oh, so many questions.

In the schismatic divide that dominates our political discourse, I am proudly on the side on the Democratic "We"rather than the Republican "I." History does not lie( unless its twisted and tinged by the true axis of evil: Bush, Cheney and Rove) and history has demonstrated, that when its comes to the commonwealth and the commonweal, both domestically and internationally, human empathy, decency and welfare is almost exclusively extended by the left(hand) and retracted, if even (or ever) offered, by the right( hand).

This chasm, between historical truth and Orwellian doublespeak, is succinctly summarized from a book by George Seldes( Even the Gods Can't Change History: The Facts Speak for Themselves):" All the muckraking, crusading, debunking, reforming, and investigative reporting aimed at exposing corruption and enlightening the public has been the work of the liberals. There has NEVER been exposure of corruption, crookedness, falsification of history, robbery of the public, or propaganda to manipulate the public mind originating or engaged in by the right." In addition, Seldes noted that :" That virtually every humanitarian advancement, from child labor laws, workmen's compensation, welfare for the sick, the disabled and the elderly, the G.I. Bill for all the esteemed and august members of the armed services and education funds and laws that are the ballast that enables people to translate their ethereal dreams into concrete reality" came as the result of left- wing agitation.

The greatest proof of the validity of Seldes' verities may be discerned in the anti-corporate homily delivered by the paragon of the everyday person and the template( which has been not only ignored by Republicans but expropriated for self- aggrandizing purposes) for what a presidency should stand for: Abraham Lincoln. In his speech, Lincoln warns of the" self- enveloping and cannabilistic nature of the corporate maw and fears for the demise of democracy in face of its unsatiable avarice and cupidity."

Lincoln's deep- seated concerns are mirrored, again, in Eisenhower's departure-from- office speech, which linked, for all, eternity, the incestuous relationship between the military and industry (i.e. the military- industrial complex).

It thus seems that while Lincoln and Eisenhower could, on the verbally rhetorical and polemicist levels enunciate a populist broadside, the realization of those lofty principles were, have been, and it seems always will be, the sole, solitary and exclusive domain of compassionate liberalism.